All of the players mentioned have declined comment. However, a European Commission official told the newspaper the EU governing body welcomed the country’s engagement in vaccine production and was aware of the contacts. Member state moves to boost vaccine production are “complementary” to the similarly targeted commission-led efforts and the two coordinated regularly, the official stressed.

According to the FT’s sources, Italian prime minister Mario Draghi spoke directly with Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel, but the talks failed as the US biotech lacked the capacity to oversee the technology transfer to Italian manufacturing sites or to staff those sites with the expertise needed to increase production. Talks with Novartis and ReiThera – which has an adenovirus-based shot in phase 2 trials – are said to be at an early stage.

Novartis has already signed an initial manufacturing agreement with CureVac to help boost the German biotech’s overall vaccine capacity by 50 million doses in 2021 and 200 million doses in 2022. It previously agreed to help Pfizer and BioNTech with production of their Comirnaty-branded mRNA vaccine.

Commentators said Italy’s efforts to secure domestic production of mRNA-based Covid doses reflect the EU’s moves to concentrate future vaccine procurement on this type of vaccine while de-emphasizing the adenovirus-based shots produced by AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson – due to supply issues as well as concerns over incidences of blood clots.

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, while initially denying any concrete steps in this direction, appears to have indirectly confirmed these plans. The EU “needs to focus now on technologies that have proven their worth,” she said last week, adding that “mRNA vaccines “are a clear case in point.” The 27-member bloc’s procurement team reportedly is talking to Pfizer/BioNTech about purchasing up to 1.8 billion doses in 2022-23.

Author: Dede Williams, Freelance Journalist